The Venus Fly Trap AttackSo, I've played two chess tournaments in the last week, six games Monday and four games Saturday. In the home laboratory, I had been experimenting with a new(for me) opening that snatches a pawn on move six and then tries to hold on. This week I got two opportunities to roll it out:

I won the game on the left, but lost the game on the right. In the first game, I got to make up for a game I failed to win 20 years ago despite being up a rook(!) in the ending. Fortunately or unfortunately this game has somehow managed to find its way into the global databases. Geary-Bursley, 1989

Although I lost the game on the right, the position is objectively equal. Obviously if black already has 100% compensation for the pawn, I've erred. Since I started playing chess again a year ago, I've played (now) 13-year-old Bryan Hu five times. My record: 0-5. He's gone from 2000 to 2200 in the last year, and I have donated half those points. I had prepared this opening specifically for him, but still seem to have lost my way. More lab work.

Although I lost the game on the right, the position is objectively equal.

Black seems to have something for the pawn. Space advantage, half open b file for his rook. However, blacks K-side is pretty weak, he has an isolated pawn and white can easily bring his black-square bishop into the game with d3. Am I missing the point of this position?

I've spent the last four hours analyzing (while playing all the Sunday tournaments of course), and it's still unclear to me. Rybka's initial assesments of an edge for W fade as B seems to have an initiative beyond the search horizon. But I think you're on the right track. Most of the best lines for W involve a counterinvasion w Qh5. To be continued...

Hu's on first?

Couldn't quite tell whose move it was in these 2 positions. Looks like White's in game 1 and Black's in Game 2. If I'm White, I'd rather have the position in Game 1. Easier to play d3 and Nbd2, and start getting off the back rank. But, certainly in over-the-board play, Black's positional pluses mean he's in the game for the long haul, despite the pawn down. In Game 2 it's trickier for White to get in d3 with the N on c3, cuz of ...Bxc3; bxc3 Nxc3, forking. Although even that sequence, White has Qd2, an interesting sac that preys upon the weak h6 pawn and Black squares along the a1-h8 diagonal.

In any case, the essential question is not which side is better, but rather: do you really wanna gonna grow a beard and start playing chess like Wilhelm Steinitz?

Re: Hu's on first?

Two Knights Defense?

You didn't tell us the opening, so I took it on as a sort of retrograde puzzle to figure out what it is. The knight on a5, the isolani on c6, and the fact that white is on his heals points to the Two Knights Defense to me. Assuming I am right, and you are experimenting with 3. Bc4, are you also happy when you end up in a Giuoco Piano?

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Men are from Venus

Jim, I would take black in both games. It's probably a stylistic difference but white is pretty far behind in development in both. I just don't want to suffer so much for a pawn. I'm sure you've been through them both pretty thoroughly with Rybka so you would know a lot about white's defensive possibilities. Just play the d3 stuff that Magnus plays. You don't get much but you can always outplay your opponents like he does, lol.